Marketing

Global luxury brands are trying very hard to conquer the Chinese market, fit in the local culture and engage with the consumers and their ever-changing behaviours. While some brands appear to be succeeding in creating a real conversation with their audience, some others are struggling to understand the local culture. Gucci and Alessandro Michele’s story of success A successful example comes from Gucci, that fuelled the expression of its brand identity in a slightly traditional way, by curating an art exhibition in Beijing’s art district 798, together with the high-end fashion publication A Magazine Curated By. Luxury fashion houses are...

According to real estate services firm Jones Lang Lasalle, by the end of 2016 there were over 500 coworking sites in Shanghai and Beijing alone, compared to just a few in the end of 2015. As the sharing economy takes root in China with increasing vigour, a growing number of Chinese customers are shifting to a collaborative consumption lifestyle, resulting in a huge boom of co-working spaces in recent years with thousands of operators emerging. Generally speaking this is a mindset change: from owning something to renting something. Since this ‘new’ mindset is not totally a new thing in China, coming from a collectivist...

Disruptive changes in the car-sharing landscape are to be expected from the Chinese market, pushed by an increasing demand for connected vehicles and by the impellent emergency of pollution and cars congestion. On one side, according to estimates from Goldman Sachs, people born between 1980 and 1990 made up roughly 30% of China’s total population in 2015. They are more urban, more affluent almost all digital natives. These connected consumers are now turning their attention to the country’s car market, demanding connected cars at far higher rates than elsewhere. On the other, Chinese officials are seeking to harness the flood of private...

In Beijing, it seems that everyone is opening up a vintage shop. From the American, retro-cowboy, rockabilly vintage of the shops in Gulou, to the more European vintage of Sanlitun’s House of Willow, there are so many different vintage boutiques that have mushroomed around the city. Vintage is still a niche market in general. It still has a concentrated appeal—it’s not for everyone. These shops complement their brick-and-mortar shops with E-commerce platforms that serve more for marketing purposes than actual sales. These WeChat platform are more like style blogs where everything it’s about lifestyle. Mainstream luxury vs niche luxury Consumption in...

Maximalism If you ever set foot in a hotel, bar, KTV or restaurant of a tier two Chinese city, you are probably familiar with the extravaganza of the interiors. If you ever walked down the streets of Xidan, Beijing youngsters’ shopping district, you’ve already jumped into some serious fashion-tackiness. If you’ve ever scrolled down the dark alleys of any of the popular Chinese live broadcasting apps I’m sure you noticed that over-styling has been taken by many way beyond the limitations of fashion. Over the past five to six years many Chinese women asked their plastic surgeons to make them “look...